The Shield's Final Stand
by Dana1
Summary: It's all boiled down to this. Hunter's not playing games anymore, but neither is the Shield. And what about the Wyatts? They haven't forgotten about their former member either. One man with his own grudge to settle joins the war between Hunter and the Shield. FIC IN THE CRACKS IN THE SHIELD SERIES (REPLACES WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT)
1. Prologue

Title: Shield's Final Stand

Author: Dana

Rating: PG

Warnings: Wrestling violence, curse words, mentions of previous rapes

Summary: It's all boiled down to this. Hunter's not playing games anymore, but neither is the Shield. And what about the Wyatts? They haven't forgotten about their former member either.

Author's note: I have deleted the last two chapters of Scattered and Shattered and this fic starts out the night of the 2014 Slammys. I have removed When the Lights Are Out as well.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley was beyond mad as he paced the arena. He was impatiently awaiting the arrival of the former Shield. He had issued an ultimatum requiring that Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose were to be at RAW. He didn't care if Ambrose just had another ankle surgery. He had spent a lot of money and paid quite a few attorneys to purchase the contracts of Ambrose and Rollins from Ring of Honor, and he was going to get what he paid for.

"Tell me when they get here,"he yelled at one of his production assistants who hurried out of the room.

Stephanie just watched him with a slight smirk on her face. "Afraid they won't show up?" she asked.

"Of course I'm worried about that," he yelled. "They never do what they are supposed to."

Cory Graves came into the room. "Rollins and Reigns are here," he said. "I want the match with Reigns that you promised me."

"Where's Ambrose?" Hunter demanded.

"I only saw Reigns and Rollins enter the arena," Cory said. "Ambrose is probably still in Las Vegas. The 'net said he was at UFC 181 with Punk."

Hunter massaged his temples. That was something he didn't want to be reminded of. Punk was now in UFC. On one hand, he was glad Punk was gone, on the other, he had listened to Colt Cabana's podcast. Everyone seemed to have a beef with their trainers. At least with Amman anyway. "You've got your match with Reigns," he said turning his attention back to the younger man. "I've got something else planned for Rollins."

Antonio Cesaro pushed past Graves as he, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, and Dave Batista entered the office. all of them looked at Graves with disgust. They all knew Graves was trying to become a part of Evolution.

Hunter picked up his cellphone. He selected a number from his phone book and dialed. The phone rang three times before a gruff southern accent greeted him.

"Hello?"

"I need you to take care of Rollins tonight."


	2. Wyatt Reunion

Notes: With ditching Dean getting blinded at the Slammy's, I really do think my series has finally picked up speed. This chapter is also dedicated to Dusty Rhodes who in my series, is the RAW General Manager, though with Hunter back, that won't last long.

"Are we making a mistake leaving Ambrose alone?" Seth asked as he started to change.

"He's with Punk who knows people," Roman dropped his voice, "and besides, he's probably safer in Chicago than on the road."

"Do you really believe that?" Seth asked.

Roman sighed. "No but it's easier than thinking of the alternative. I really wish Hunter would leave him alone. He's ended his career. What else does he want?"

"We both know Hunter never forgave Dean for double crossing him when he offered him a spot in Evolution. I don't know if he'll ever stop going after him." Seth shuddered thinking about when he and Dean were snatched from a Philadelphia sports bar. He didn't remember much of what happened the near week they were there but Dean's nightmares gave him an idea of what probably did happen.

Dusty Rhodes stuck his head in the locker room. "Hey Roman, Seth," he greeted. "How's Dean?"

"He's okay," Seth said. "He's still got a long recovery to go with his ankle. Fourth break in less than a year has left his ankle in real bad shape."

"And with Hunter breathing down our necks, his recovery will be even more long," Roman said. "So who do we have matches with?" He figured that was the reason the RAW General Manager was there. Dusty did care about the talent but Hunter had to know they were there.

"Roman you've got a match with Cory Graves," Dusty said. "I haven't heard anything about a match for Seth yet. Stephanie said she's still thinking about it."

Roman wasn't surprised that he had a match with Cory. Cory still hadn't forgiven him for Seth sending him off to Chicago while the Shield went to Hawaii. He seemed to think it was all three of their idea when Seth had come up with that idea to run to Hawaii in a moment of insanity that included Dean without crutches and Roman having no clue what was going on.

"Maybe I can do commentary," Seth suggested. "That way I can be at ringside in case Evolution tries to pull something which we know they will."

"Sounds good to me," Dusty said. "I'll let Jerry Lawler, Booker T, and Michael Cole know," he said before leaving.

Seth's phone buzzed. He looked down and saw he had a text from Dean. It read:

 _It's me. Just checking in. We'll be watching RAW._

"Just got a text from Dean," Seth said to Roman. "He said they'll be watching RAW."

"He got Punk to watch,"Roman asked.

Seth sent a text and received a response. "Nah he meant Colt Cabana was going to watch with him. Punk's going to be watching something else. I don't think..."

The lights went out. When they came on again, the Wyatts were there. Bray sat in his rocking chair with a smirk on his face. "I hope you didn't forget us Seth. It's time you came home to the family"


	3. Time is on His Side

Notes: Sorry for the delay in update. I'm going to keep writing these even though I've just about had it with how WWE's ignoring Ambrose.

Roman stood in front of Seth glaring at the crazy cult leader. "He's not going anywhere," Roman declared. It was easy for him to slip back into protective. He had let Seth and Dean so many times. His choosing the wrong box was still fresh in his mind. He didn't even know anything that Evolution did to them. Dean didn't like to talk about things like that and\

|Seth didn't remember it or so he claimed.

"Mr. Reigns," Bray drawled, "you have no say in this matter so back away. Mr. Rollins is a member of the Wyatt Family," he said handing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship title to Harper who stood behind him. "I will be happy to go through you to bring Seth back to the family." He hit Roman and the brawl started.

A camera crew was sent into the locker room and filmed the whole incident and that was what opened RAW that night.

DDD

Dean Ambrose lay on the couch with a bowl of popcorn on the floor. He kept trying to shoo Nacho, AJ Lee and CM Punk's dog, away from the bowl but he wasn't having much success. Colt Cabana sat in one of the recliners with his own bowl of popcorn. Punk was in his own room watching something else. AJ was at RAW.

"Punk you sure you don't want us to tell you when AJ's on,"Colt called.

"No," was the answer. "She knows I won't watch."

RAW started and Dean sat up quickly when he saw the brawl on his TV screen. "What's Wyatt doing there?" he asked out loud.

"Don't know man," Colt said. "Can't be anything good."

Dean's phone buzzed. He grabbed it from where it was lying on the coffee table. He saw it was Hunter and chose to ignore it. How'd he get his cellphone number anyway? He was probably the one who snuck into the Performance Center to get his phone number from Joey Mercury. The phone rang again so he sighed and answered it. "What?"

"I just wanted to let you know that this stunt you pulled by not showing up on RAW will not be forgotten. You work for the WWE again Ambrose. You can't just not show."

"Fire me,"Dean said and hung up. He didn't want to work for WWE. It wasn't like he could wrestle anymore anyway. He saw that the show was back in the arena. "What happened?" he asked Colt.

"Lights went out and suddenly it was back on the arena."

Dean dialed Seth's phone number. "Yeah," Seth answered.

"Everything okay,"Dean asked.

"Wyatts ran when the Usos and Cena came in," Seth explained. "We're fine"

"Hunter called me earlier to say that he wouldn't forget this. I told him to fire me."

Seth snorted. "You've been hanging around Punk too much. Like Hunter's going to fire you. Gotta go. Roman's match with Graves is next."

DDD

Bray Wyatt paced backstage he had came so close to getting Seth again. Hunter couldn't make up his mind on what he wanted to do with Seth but Bray knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted Seth back in the family. He was his most successful converts to his cult. Kane had put up a lot more fight. Seth was perfect. A grin formed on his face. Maybe he could convince Seth to return without kidnapping him again. He started humming Time is on My Side as he walked around backstage.

DDD


	4. Freedom?

Notes:Dedicated to Rowdy Roddy Piper who's death is still hard to face. I look forward to Smackdown on August 11th.

Dean had a hard time focusing on the commercials. He was ready to see how Roman's match with Graves went. RAW was back on the air when Cole made the big announcement. "We've just been informed that the main event tonight will be Seth Rollins vs the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Bray Wyatt in a street fight. We haven't heard if it will be for the title."

"Sounds like a pretty good deal to me," Cliff Compton said entering the room. Punk had let him in a few minutes earlier. "Be gone three months and get a title match on your first night back. Maybe I should go back."

Dean didn't answer he was staring at the screen with wide eyes. Hunter was up to something. He wouldn't just make that match. He closed his eyes as he remembered something.

 _"I don't care what you do with Rollins," Hunter said as he turned to look at the closed basement door. "Just keep him from escaping again."_

He was about to grab his phone again when he heard the Shield's music hit. Seth and Roman came through the crowd. Roman stood in the center of the ring waiting for Graves as Seth took a seat next to Booker T at the announce table.

"Welcome back Seth," Jerry the King Lawler said. "How's Dean?"

"He's okay," Seth answered. "He's not here tonight but he's okay."

Dean could hear the nervousness in Seth's voice as he stared at the ring.

Seth didn't say much during the match between Corey and Roman. The match didn't last too long as Roman was able to get a quick advantage and speared Corey almost out of his wrestling boots. The ref made the three count. Roman and Seth started to celebrate when the lights went out.

When the lights came back on, Bray Wyatt was on the Titan Tron. "Seth Rollins," he said. "I have an interesting proposition for you," he said with a chuckle.

"Don't listen to him Seth," Dean said to the TV screen. He didn't even notice that Punk was standing in the doorway.

"See it is time you returned to the family. You know you are part of this family. It was only a week ago that you were pledging your allegience to our cause. You may not remember being the one who brought Dean to RAW Monday."

"He didn't," Dean said. "Evolution brought me in the back way. Seth..." he couldn't finish it as his phone buzzed. He ignored it.

Bray continued. "If you lose tonight, you will rejoin my family. If you win, I will not force you to join the family. You can continue believing you are truly free." He grinned for a moment before his face became all serious. "Oh and Roman?" He said looking directly at Roman in a way that anyone watching found creepy. "Run." He blew out his lantern.

The lights went out. When they came back on Orton, Cesaro, and Batista were in the ring. There was a large brawl inside of the ring and it took the majority of backstage to seperate them."

Dean looked down at his phone and nearly threw threw it at the TV. It was a text from Hunter that said he'd be in Chicago tomorrow. Great just great.

DDD

Notes: Next chapter the Bray Wyatt/Seth Rollins match.


	5. Bray vs Seth

Roman felt uneasy as he stood in Seth's corner. He didn't want to do commentary during the match in case Harper and Rowan got involved in the match, not to mention Evolution. Hunter hadn't done much tonight but he had a bad feeling especially knowing Hunter was going to be in Chicago tomorrow. He and Seth couldn't go there as they had both been informed that they were required to be at Smackdown. He had tried to convince Dean to leave Chicago but he scoffed saying there was no point in leaving. Hunter would find him.

Seth stood in the corner waiting for Bray Wyatt's entrance. He didn't feel nearly as nervous as Roman did but he was feeling a sense of dread. What did Bray mean when he said he could continue to think he was free?

The lights went out as Live in Fear started playing. The arena lit up as cellphones came out. Bray entered the ring as Rowan and Harper stayed out of the ring. Bray smiled at Seth as Charles Robinson signaled for the bell.

Roman continued to pace outside of the ring during the match. It was back and forth before Bray hit Seth with a clothesline. Seth went down and Bray took advantage of it for the next ten minutes. The fans were really into the match happy to see Seth back in the ring after being gone from WWE rings for three months, and Bray would always have his own fans.

Just as Seth got the upper hand Evolution's music started playing. Soon the ring was filled with Orton, Batista, Cesaro, and the Wyatt Family along with Roman and Seth. Robinson started to signal for the bell when Triple H yanked him out of the ring and clocked him. Bray grabbed a mic.

"Imagine Roman, " Bray said with a snear, "if Triple H had decided to recruit Rollins instead of Ambrose. You think Seth could have turned down the offer? He's easier to manipulate than Ambrose."

Seth shook his head adamantly disagreeing with the cult leader.

Suddenly the Titan Tron came to life showing RAW from the week last week. It showed backstage where Evolution as dragging a tied up Ambrose through backstage. No one bothered to stop them. Seth was the one who took the title Bray handed him and placed it on Dean's lap before a box was put over Dean.

"Very good Seth," Bray said.

Seth just nodded and put a mask on. Paul Heyman walked through the curtain. The video cut off.

"That...that doesn't prove anything," Seth stammered.

A mic was tossed to him by Hunter. He repeated what he sai into the mic.

"You helped set up the game," Hunter said. "You kept Roman distracted last week long enough for Dean to be brought in. Hell, Seth, you were the one who told us where to find you in Philadelphia."

"No!" Seth yelled not really needing the mic to be heard.

"You are a member of this family," Rowan said through his sheep mask.

"No!" Seth said and launched himself at Bray Wyatt and the brawl continued. The Usos, John Cena, Tyson Kid, and almost all of the locker rooms emptied out as a huge brawl started.

No one saw Paul Heyman slip away.

It took most of security to pull everyone apart and the match was ruled a no contest.

DDD

In Chicago, Dean stared at the TV as RAW went off the air. He hadn't even known Seth was there backstage as they set up the trap. He had been blindfolded the whole time. Had Seth been the one who told Triple H where to find Dean that night? That couldn't be right.

Could it?


	6. Uninvited

Notes: I like this Braun Stowman (still don't know why WWE decided to change the spelling of his name). I don't think there will be a way to incorporate him into this fic, but I like watching him beat up Roman. Kinda crazy week for the former Shield. Dean Ambrose almost got stabbed by a fan and Seth Rollins has another winner for a girlfriend. Advice for Mr. Rollins: Find a girl who doesn't know how to upload pictures!

DDD

Seth couldn't sit still on the drive back to the hotel. He didn't want to admit how much that video that Hunter showed had gotten to him. He didn't remember that incident backstage where he put the title on Dean. What else was he blocking out? He wondered.

Seth stopped moving when he saw the hotel go past them. "Roman where are we going?" He asked.

"Chicago." He said without to face him.

"Chicago? That's like over 700 miles from here. Are we driving?" Roman nodded. Seth wondered briefly if the older man had finally lost it. "Can't we catch a plane or something?"

"No," Roman said. "I checked the airlines. There are no availble flights until ten in the morning. I want to get there before Hunter does."

Seth took out his cellphone and texted Dean: Roman's finally snapped.

DDD

Dean couldn't sleep that night. Seth had texted him to say that Roman had snapped. When he called for more details Seth had told him that Roman was driving from Greenville to Chicago. He tried to tell both of them that he would be fine, but neither would listen to him. Apparently neither of them seemed to care about their job at the moment either.

Dean sat in Punk's kitchen staring at the coffee maker. Punk was currently using the juicer and offered to make him coffee instead. Dean decided that sounded better than what Punk was currently making. There was a knock on the front door. "I'll get it," Dean said grabbing his crutches figuring it might be Seth and Roman. A quick look at the clock told him it was too early for them to be in Chicago.

"Hey wait a second," Punk called from the kitchen. "Shit!" He said as he dropped the juicer on the floor.

Dean opened the door and saw Triple H standing there with a smirk on his face.

"I figured you'd be here," he said with a smirk on his face.

"What do you want Hunter?" Dean asked not moving to let his boss into the apartment.

"I've just come to see you. You skipped RAWlast night after I told you you had to be there."

"I've got a doctor's note excusing me from being at shows." Dean said. "Vince signed off on it."

Hunter's face turned a bright shade of red in anger. Punk walked into the room then.

"What are you doing here," he demanded.

"I'm leaving," Hunter said and started to turn around. He stopped and shoved something at Dean. Dean took it and found it to be an envelope. "I'll expect to see you at RAW in Detroit." He turned and left.

Dean opened the envelope, found a couple pictures, and promptly ripped them up. Punk caught a glimpse of it and nearly ran out the door to get a hold of Hunter. He would have if he wasn't worried it was some kind of trap.

"You shouldn't have ripped them up." Punk said as he shut the door.

"What else would I do with this garbage?" He asked before throwing away the pieces. "I'm done with all of this," he said and hobbled away.

DDD

Later that day Roman Reigns sat in the living room of Punk's house glaring at the older man who, instead of looking at him, was texting on his phone. Punk had wanted to have this conversation and yet he was completely ignoring him. Seth was trying to talk to Dean but wasn't having any success. Roman had tried but had given up completely.

"Dean okay," Punk asked as he set his phone down.

Roman glared at him. "Sure now you want to talk. You said you wanted to talk to me after I talked to Dean and you just ignored me for five minutes. If I wanted to be ignored, I'd try having a conversation with Dean again."

"Calm down Reigns," Punk said. "I was texting AJ letting her know Hunter had been here. I wasn't purposefully ignoring you. It must be a family thing with thinking the whole world revolves around you. Your cousin the Rock seems to think so."

"Look who's talking."

"Fair enough. So is Dean okay?"

"About as can be expected, though he won't talk to me. Hunter really needs to leave him alone."

"I know first hand what it's like when Hunter wants something. He ran me out of the business and fired me on my wedding day remember?" Roman didn't say anything. "I wouldn't worry about Dean. He can handle himself. Hunter's going to realize that one of these days.".

"Oh really?" Roman shot back. "Because last time he was with Hunter he wasn't okay. Dean won't talk about it or Hawaii when it first happened."

"First happend, "Punk snorted. "You think that was the first time it happened? Boy you really have no clue what happened. Why do you think he hates hockey games?"

"It's a stupid sport."

"It isn't but I'll let it slide. Dean hates hockey to the point that he can't stand to have it on TV. He literally yanked the remote out of AJ's hand when he was here in October. I've gotten him to talk about it. Why don't you?"

Roman didn't say anything. He didn't want to admit that what Punk said made sense. Dean couldnt stand hockey. Seth had told him he reacted to the hockey game when he was in the hospital in New Jersey. It all made sense now.

He really was going to kill Huner the next time he saw him.


	7. Let's Not Talk About Hockey

Notes: Flashback chapter. Need something light considering the difficult conversation that Seth and Roman are going to make Dean have with them.

I'm done with watching WWE. I've gone so far as delete RAW and Smackdown from my DVR and have canceled my WWE Network subscription. I'm going to go to Smackdown in February but like when I went to TNA in Salem 4 years ago, I'll have no idea what's going on. If you're happy with Roman as champ, don't you dare complain when you see next week. You asked for it.

 _"We should celebrate," Dean said as he entered Seth and Roman's locker room. Both men were grinning from ear to ear as fellow wrestlers and divas came over and congratulated them on winning the tag titles for the second time. Dean shifted uncomfortably on his crutches. He had only been out of the hospital one day and he was already hating the crutches._

 _"Where should we go," Seth asked._

 _"Hey I know of a sports bar," Roman said._

 _"Chicago just lost the series to the Kings," Jimmy Uso said coming up to them. "Don't know if hanging out with angry hockey fans will be a good idea."_

 _Dean flinched at the word hockey but quickly covered it up. "Any where's fine with me. Shield's back on top we gotta celebrate."_

 _"Hey Dean," a voice called from behind them. Dean struggled a bit to turn around. His whole body still hurt from Hunter's attack a few weeks ago. He was way over due for painkillers. He saw Joey Mercury standing there. "If you guys are looking for somewhere to celebrate I know of the perfect place. A friend of mine just texted me inviting me to a party and said I should bring you. I think he'd be okay with Roman and Seth coming."_

 _"Sounds good to me. How about you guys?" He asked turning to face the others who shrugged. They followed Joey to a car where Kofi Kingston was waiting. Since they had taken a taxi to the arena, they all got into the back and watched as Joey drove towards Chicago and got onto a main road in Chicago. Joey stopped in front of a building with a tattoo parlor on the bottom floor._

 _Kofi, Roman, Seth, and Dean got out of the car while Joey went and parked the car. They took an elevator to one of the floors and got out. Kofi knocked on the door and CM Punk opened it. "Come in," he said allowing them to enter._

" _Surprised you got back here so fast," Kofi said as he looked at his watch. The hockey game ended not long after the PPV went off the air._

" _Yeah," Punk said, "no partying in the Madhouse on Madison. We almost had it too. I just know that stupid lion is going to make me keep up my end of the deal."_

 _Dean hobbled over to Punk's couch not wanting to really listen to the hockey conversation. He never wanted to hear anything related to hockey again._

" _Excuse me!" AJ Lee Brooks said as she pushed her way into the apartment. She had her hands full with food. She was still off work with WWE as she and Punk had just gotten married. "Colt's behind me somewhere."_

" _Anyone else coming," Joey asked as he took some of the bags from AJ._

" _Cliff might show up later." Punk said. "He wasn't sure."_

" _So why did you invite us," Seth asked as he sat down next to Dean on the couch._

" _I didn't invite you Seth," Punk said with a grin. "I invited Dean. You guys invited yourselves."_

" _Okay," Dean said, "why did you invite me?" He was as surprised as the others. It was only six months ago that Punk was trying to break them up._

" _I think you and I have a lot in common,' Punk said. "We both have been Hunter's focus. He ran me out of the company and fired me on my Wedding Day just because I didn't want to come back and from what Joey told me, he attacked you for not joining Evolution."_

 _Dean shrugged. He didn't really see that much comparison. Punk at least left WWE without any injuries. "At least you left without injury."_

 _Punk snorted. "If you call a concussion, cracked ribs and a MRSA without injury, I guess so. He actually tried to make me take a urine test."_

" _Good thing you refused," Roman said, "he doctored my test."_

 _Dean looked at the Second City Saint with new interest. He and Dean had wrestled each other in FCW a couple of years ago and they shook hands backstage after the match. He knew Seth was almost trained by Punk about 10 years earlier. He propped his ankle on the coffee table._

 _The party went on for a couple of hours before they went back to their hotel. They had a long drive to RAW the next day._

Dean didn't know then that Punk would be one of the closest friends he'd have after that. He was the only one he talked about what really happened in New Jersey that night. Now he knew he was going to have to deal with everything six months later and he didn't think he could ever do it.


	8. Planning for the Future

Notes: Long time no update but I'm going to start this fic with how I feel about RAW and Fast Lane. Fast Lane sucked as a PPV. AJ Styles/Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens/Ziggler were the only good matches. Reigns winning was crappy booking. No one wants to see Reigns vs Triple H which leads to what his fans don't see.

Reigns did not break his nose. So don't you dare blame the fans who were cheering Hunter. It was supposed to be that way. You remember when Ambrose got attacked by Lesnar before RAW? WWE knew the fans were planning to chant We Want Ambrose so they decided to use it. Hunter knew Detroit was going to treat him as a hero last night. Why do you think there was a blood capsule? WWE knows they can't have Roman at any RAWs next month because here's the schedule: Chicago (good news is Hunter won't be there either. It's the equivalent of HBK being in Montreal), Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. All will be harsh crowds. WWE could have done the right thing and had Ambrose win but you know what? They just made the title match the 3rd most anticipated match at WrestleMania. To be fair, it's only 3rd at the moment until the rest of the card is announced. Hunter does like to bury people.

So stop blaming Detroit. It's all WWE's fault. With that, onto a story part that doesn't paint Hunter in a good light.

* * *

Roman opened the door that led to the roof of Punk's building. He found Seth and Dean sitting in chairs not talking. He walked up to them tentatively he didn't want to have this conversation but if they were going to get through this, they had to address the proverbial elephant in the room or in this case, on the roof top.

"Dean you gotta talk to us," Roman said looking around quickly for something to sit on, but didn't find anything. He sat down on the roof facing Dean and Seth. "What happened in New Jersey?"

Dean gave him a look but didn't say anything. He reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone. Seth took it out of his hands. "Uh uh," Seth said. "You aren't going to shut us out."

"I'm not talking about it." Dean said as he grabbed his crutches ready to leave. He had way too much practice with the crutches and could move rather quickly. Seth got up quickly and stood in front of him. "Out of my way Seth."

"Dean you told Punk why can't you tell us?" Roman asked as he got up to his feet.

Dean didn't say anything. "Well if he already told you, I don't need to say something." Dean said. "Now move."

"He didn't say what happened he just sort of implied it." Roman said as he sort of pushed Dean back into the chair.

"You want to know Roman? Seth?" Dean asked looking from one to the other. "What's it going to matter? It's not going to change anything. What they…he did already happened. I just don't want to forget it and move on."

They? Roman and Seth thought exchanging looks. They had thought it was just Hunter. Roman cracked his knuckles. He suddenly couldn't wait to be in Detroit for RAW the next week.

"Dean if there's anything therapy taught me it was talking helps. We just want to help you."

"Yeah therapy seemed to really work for you Seth," Dean said turning to face the younger man. "You were back with the Wyatts so quickly. You could have called them and told them where we were."

Seth almost punched Dean for that. Roman stepped between them. "Come on guys this isn't helping. Fine Dean if you don't want to talk about it but that's your choice but we've got to be ready for Detroit. Obviously you can't stay here in Chicago so we might as well be ready."

"And I'll be there too," a voice said from the entrance. They turned around to see CM Punk. "I called Dana and he said it was fine with him if I was there after I told him I had no intention of coming back. I have a score to settle with Hunter too."

"Then it's settled. Now stop asking me what happened and let's figure out what to do now." Dean said as he settled back in the chair.

Hunter wasn't going to know what hit him Monday.


	9. Best Laid Plans

Notes: Best Laid Plans…appropriate title for what happens in this chapter! Ironically I was listening to the songs Lean on Me and Authority Song while writing this chapter.

It wasn't easy for the Shield and CM Punk to slip into Joe Louis Arena without anyone spotting them. It required help from Dusty and getting there before anyone else did. Even then they were worried that security would see them and report them to Triple H. They found a quiet room away from all of the locker rooms where Dean and Punk could wait until the big reveal. If Hunter, asked Seth or Roman would simply tell him that Dean had declined the invitation, and would not be returning to WWE. This plan hinged on no one seeing them, or finding the room. Dean thought with their luck, they would be spotted right away.

"I hate waiting," Dean said after looking at his watch for the third time in ten minutes. Roman and Seth had left to give the illusion that Dean was still in Chicago. Most of the roster wouldn't be there for another hour.

"Me neither," Punk said not looking up from his cellphone where he was texting Colt. "But it's better than someone finding out we are here and reporting it to the Authority," he reminded him. "I can't wait to see Hunter's face when I walk out."

"I'd rather not be here at all," Dean said as he shifted in the chair he was sitting in. They couldn't turn on a TV and were whispering to not draw attention. Seth promised to text them to let them know when it was time.

Punk put his phone down and reached into his backpack. He pulled out a deck of cards. "You want to play poker?"

* * *

Hunter was livid. Despite his demands, Dean didn't show up at RAW. What kind of game were they playing? Ambrose was an employee of the WWE and he couldn't just no show. He tried calling him but evidently Ambrose had changed his phone number. He turned around to face one of the Production Assistants that were in the room. "Tell Rollins and Reigns that I want to see them now!" He ordered. The Production Assistant scurried away quickly.

Hunter grabbed a bottle of water before turning to look at Paul Heyman. The older man was sitting in a chair frowning at his cellphone. "What?" He demanded. It better not be bad news he thought. He didn't need anything else to go wrong tonight.

"I just got a text from Cesaro," Heyman said as he set down his phone. "It said he missed his flight and won't be here."

"He's just telling us now," Hunter thundered. "He should have caught another flight!"

"He said there are a lot of storms in Florida. All flights are grounded."

Hunter was about to respond when the door opened. Rollins and Reigns entered the room.

"You wanted to see us Hunter," Seth asked with a smirk on his face.

"Where's Ambrose? I told him he had to be here tonight!"

"Missed his flight," Roman said. "Storms in Chicago. Flights grounded. Evidently it's all over the country."

This earned a chuckle from the cameraman who was setting up the room for that night.

"Oh you think you are funny Reigns?" Hunter asked turning to face him. "You think this is just one big joke? I'm serious. Ambrose was supposed to be here!"

"Yeah well he declined the invitation," Seth said with a shrug. "He's not coming back. He said he'll sue you if you make him come." He went off script but he had to convince Hunter that there wasn't something going on.

"He'll sue me?" hunter said with a laugh. "He's the one who is breaching his contract by not being here. You two have a match against all three Wyatts tonight. Now get out of my office." He said. He was tired of all of this. Everyone was determined to drive him crazy.

 _Seth and Roman left the room._ He took out his cellphone and sent a message to his spy.

 _Where's Ambrose really?_ He sent.

He received an answer a moment later that read _Don't know. I haven't talked to Roman tonight. Someone told me he's in Chi-Town still._

Hunter was not one bit happy.

DDD

Later that night Seth and Roman stood in the back waiting for their match. They were wrestling two of the Wyatts at the top of the second hour. They were still a bit nervous about the surprise. Punk had texted them saying everything was okay and no one had come close to the room where they were hiding.

A harried looking Production Assistant came up to them. "Your match is next," he said before hurrying

Roman took his phone out and texted Punk. They were in contact with Punk in case someone took their phones. After what happened in Florida with Joey Mercury's phone, they weren't taking any chances.

 _It's time._

He waited but received no response.

 _Punk?_

Still nothing.

"Something's wrong," he said to Seth as they tried to discreetly walk to the room. When they opened the door they found it empty except for a deck of cards all over the floor. Punk's cellphone was in pieces on the ground. But neither him nor the Lunatic Fringe could be found.


	10. Best Laid PlansPart 2

Roman and Seth looked at each other in absolute shock. What happened? Roman had received a text from Punk only ten minutes ago. Someone would have seen Punk and Ambrose leave the room, Seth thought. Then a single name came to him. "Wyatts."

"Reigns, Rollins, your match is up now." Someone yelled from the curtain. Neither of them responded. They started walking towards the Authority's office.

Roman threw open the door and found Evolution, sans Cesaro, talking, but Dean and Punk were not there.

"What are you doing here?" Hunter demanded. You've got a match right now with the Wyatts."

"Where are they?" Roman demanded.

"Who? The Wyatts? I can't keep track of them. I have better things to do with my time."

"You know who I mean," Roman said.

"No actually I don't," Hunter said glaring at him.

Seth saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Come on Roman, we've got a match," he said pulling the larger man out of the room. Seth didn't say a word to Roman before taking off in a run. He grabbed the hooded figure and pulled him into an area away from prying eyes. "Where's Dean?"

Punk looked around before saying, "I'll show you," he said before leading Seth and Roman, who had caught up, to another area, where the Usos and Naomi were waiting. Dean was sitting in a chair.

"Hey Roman," Dean said looking up. "You didn't tell us Naomi was working with the Authority."

"Obviously I'm not since I didn't tell Hunter where you are. I came to warn you and he," she said pointing at Punk, "grabbed my phone, saw Hunter's text and threw my cellphone against the wall."

"Why is Hunter texting you," Jimmy asked, "and why didn't you tell me?"

"Hunter threatened to make your life hell if I didn't work with him. After seeing everything he's done to Dean, I didn't want it to happen to you. I've been giving him as much useless information as I can, and helped him get Dean up to our room, but I swear I didn't tell him you guys you are here tonight."

Dean remembered the phone call Hunter had made from the limo. It was all making sense now.

"Why didn't you answer my texts," Roman asked. "I thought the Wyatts had grabbed you guys."

Punk pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Sorry didn't hear it. We better go down to the ring before someone finds out we're here."

They pushed back one of the curtains that led out to the crowd. Roman went out first, then Seth, followed by the Usos. Dean looked at Punk before going through. Punk hung back a moment before following.

The crowd went wild when they saw Ambrose. They had seen a video of Triple H angry about Ambrose not being there that night. Punk was wearing sunglasses and had his hoody pulled all the way up. Since he was wearing Ambrose's Hounds of Justice hoody, no one in the crowd knew who it was.

"It looks like the Shield have a new member," Michael Cole said from the commentary table. "I wonder who it is?"

"I don't know who it is," Booker T said, "but it's good to see Ambrose back with his brothers again."

Seth grabbed a mic from ringside. "The Shield is back." He said which caused the crowd to erupt in cheers. "Triple H thought he could break us up? He just made us stronger."

"You better believe that," Roman said leaning into the mic.

King of Kings started playing. The cheers turned into boos. Everyone in the ring turned to face the ring entrance. Hunter came out with Orton and Batista. "So Ambrose is here," he said with a smirk on his face. "I knew you were lying about it. It doesn't matter anyway. "All that matters are your match with the Wyatts is now. Rollins, Reigns, Usos, and whoever that hooded man is in the ring vs. Wyatt Family, Randy Orton, and Batista." He started to walk down to the ring.

Punk motioned for the mic. He threw his hoody back and removed the sunglasses. The fans went nuts. Hunter stopped walking and stood there open mouthed with shock. "I don't work here Hunter so no." he jumped out of the ring and started punching at Hunter.

The lights went out. Dean leaned heavily on one crutch and held the other ready to hit anyone that came near him. he felt someone grab him from behind and he swung back and nailed them.

They let out a curse and moved away. When the lights came back on Dean was standing alone in the ring with Seth. Bray Wyatt was standing behind Seth saying something into his ear. Seth was nodding. Dean looked around and saw that Roman and the Usos were brawling with Orton, Batista, Rowan, and Harper.

Dean readied for a fight but the lights went out again and Dean was shoved hard. He went flying over the top rope. He tried to break the fall with his hands afraid of hurting his ankle worse. The lights came back on and the Wyatts and Seth were gone.


	11. Lights Out

Notes: I forgot to mention in the last chapter, it was in my original draft that I lost, that Naomi didn't join the others to keep up appearances.

DDD

Dean pulled himself to his feet with the crutches. Everything felt okay. He had been more surprised by the action than anything else. He wasn't sure if it was Bray or Seth that had pushed him out of the ring. Either of them could have done it.

Someone grabbed him by the shoulder and he spun around ready to hit him with the crutch but saw it was Dusty Rhodes. Dusty was trying to help him get away from ringside away from the chaos that was still going strong. "I'm okay," he said to the RAW General Manager.

Dusty nodded before going back to trying to restore order but it appeared to be an impossible task. Even without the Wyatts to help, Evolution was holding their own against the Usos, Punk, and Roman. Soon more of the locker room was called in to try to break it up.

When order was restored Triple H grabbed a mic. "CM Punk I should have you arrested," he said glaring at the Second City Saint.

"I can think of a few things you should be arrested for!" Punk shot back. He said briefly looking at Dean who was sitting on the announce table. His ankle was starting to hurt. He was pretty sure this was why Dr. Andrews strongly recommended not going back to wrestling in any form.

Hunter just smirked and shook his head. "I won't have you arrested. I'll consider this one of the days you missed during your suspension. Tonight how about a match between you and me."

"Would love to but I'm under a no compete clause with any other promotion." Punk would have loved to get his hands on Hunter but he had promised Dana White that he wouldn't compete for the WWE. Unlike Hunter, he respected Dana. They had been friends for years.

Hunter glowered. He didn't need another lawsuit that was for sure. The WWE had barely gotten through with Punk's lawsuit back in October. That had cost them a lot of money. He had already spent too much money on people he didn't like. He turned to leave but stopped. He leaned in and whispered something to Orton who nodded. He did the same with Batista and left. Orton and Batista were left standing outside of the ring looking at Ambrose who wisely took a step back.

Reigns stepped through the ropes and jumped off of the ring apron to stand next to Dean. The Usos and Punk did the same. Dusty grabbed a mic from ringside and ordered everyone backstage. Security made sure both groups left separately with each escorted to their respective locker rooms.

When Dean, Roman, Jimmy, Jey, and Punk entered their locker room they found all of Seth's belongings gone. "Knew we couldn't trust him," Dean said sitting down on one of the benches.

"Dean…" Roman started to say.

"You saw how fast he rejoined the Wyatts Rome," Dean said as he started rubbing at his ankle. "I don't know who shoved me out of the ring but it could have been Seth just as much as it could have been Bray."

Roman's phone dinged. "Got a text from Seth." He said to everyone. "It just says tell Dean to run."

"See?" Dean said.

"I don't get it," Jey said, "why are they after Dean? It's not like he's a threat to Bray's title, no offense Dean," he said quickly.

Dean didn't say anything. He was thinking. Back in Chicago he had a short conversation with Seth about Philadelphia. Seth swore he didn't remember anything that happened after he was thrown back down into the basement but he said if he ever got caught by the Wyatts again he'd send a signal. If he told him to run it meant the Wyatts were still there. If he sent a message saying, Follow the Buzzards that meant they were gone.

"They're still here," Dean said.

"Yeah man," Jimmy said giving him a strange look. "We can see that."

Dean didn't say anything as he grabbed his crutches. He wasn't completely sure he could trust Seth but he wasn't brainwashed. Not yet anyway. Or it could all be a trick. He wasn't sure how this brainwashing thing worked.

"Wait Dean," Roman called hurrying after him.

"No I'm not waiting for the Wyatts to come back," Dean said. "That was the message Seth and I worked out. If the Wyatts were there, he'd text me Run. If they were gone, he'd text Follow the buzzards. Obviously they are still in the building and I'm not waiting to have another confrontation with them. We sent our message now let's get…"

The lights in the arena all went out.

When the lights came back on, Roman was gone.


	12. Run

Dean looked around wondering where Roman went. It seemed like one moment he was standing behind him and the next he was gone. He hobbled back to the locker room and found the Usos and Punk were talking to Dusty Rhodes.

"Roman disappeared." Dean said before sitting down on a bench.

"What do you mean disappeared," Jey demanded. He wasn't happy about this. He hated the disappearing thing that the Wyatts did.

One moment we were arguing about leaving and the next he was gone. I told you they were still here." Dean said massaging his casted ankle.

"I thought they were only interested in you and Seth," Jimmy said as he turned and faced him.

Dean didn't say anything. He grabbed the nearest cellphone and didn't look to see who's it was. He had left his cellphone in Chicago. He didn't trust that someone wouldn't grab his phone to get his new number. He sent a text to Seth that read:

 _Where's Roman_

After a few minutes he received a text that said, _Lose this number Jey_

Dean frowned. That was odd. He didn't realize he had grabbed the cellphone and did that message mean Seth was brainwashed?

After a few moments he got another text.

 _Not unless you want Dean to disappear too. Make Dean run._

"Seth texted to get out of here." Dean said as he pulled himself back up with the crutches. He was tired of all of this. He just wanted everything to stop. He had thought going to Ring of Honor would end all of this but it probably would never end.

"I'll get security looking for him now," Dusty spoke up. "If the Wyatts are still in the building, we'll find him."

Jimmy looked at Jey before saying, "we'll go look too." He said before both twins left the room.

"This is crazy," Punk said when the locker room was empty. "This is not how I thought my return would go."

"This is not how I expected anything to go," Dean said as he looked at his cellphone. There were no new texts. He decided not to text Seth back. "I don't know why I'm here."

"Because you can't escape your past. Believe me I know how that is."

They sat in the room watching RAW on the monitor. Their brawl with the Wyatts and Evolution had taken place at the top of the second hour. They had been watching for about twenty minutes when the door opened and Roman was thrown into the room unconscious. Dean got up with the use of his crutches and went to check on Roman, while Punk ran out of the locker room. He came back pulling a struggling Seth back into the room.

"I can't be here," Seth said as he struggled to get out of the Chicagoan's grip. 'You don't understand I've got to get back to Bray. He'll come back. He'll get Dean. You gotta let me go!"

"No way," Punk said. He waited until Seth was turned away before hitting him in the back of the head. Seth fell to the ground next to Roman.

"Was that necessary?" Dean asked.

"We couldn't find Roman," Jimmy said as he and Jey returned. "We looked…" he stopped when he saw Seth and Roman laying on the floor. "What happened?"

"No time," Dean said. "Grab them we gotta get out of here." He said and hobbled to the entrance of the locker room. The coast was clear and they were able to get to the parking lot where their cars were parked. Punk got behind the wheel of Roman's rental while Dean got in the passenger seat. The Usos loaded Roman and Seth into the back of the car. They got out of there was quickly as they could with the Usos following close behind in their own rental car after Naomi joined them.

They decided to drive back to Chicago unsure of how Seth would react when he came to.


	13. Exit Light

Dean opened his eyes. He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep. He looked around the rental car and found that Roman was now behind the wheel and Punk was where he had been sitting, and was asleep. He turned all the way around to see that Seth was awake and glaring at the back of Roman's head. He started to turn back to face the front but something caught his attention. He saw that Seth's hands were tied together.

"Man," Dean said trying to get comfortable in the seat, "how long was I out?"

"You've been out for hours," Roman said. "You took one painkiller and were out. You didn't even wake up when Seth tried to escape when Punk and I switched seats."

"You need to let me go," Seth said as he struggled with the binding they were using. It looked like a belt. "Bray's going to find me."

"He's not going to find you," Roman said, "we're going to a place he won't expect."

"Where? Hawaii?" Seth asked.

Dean chuckled. That had been Seth's bad idea when he was trying to escape the Wyatts.

"No," Roman said but didn't say anything further he just kept driving.

"When I told Jey to tell Dean to run this isn't what I had in mind," Seth said looking out the window. "They said they were going to get Dean."

"So they grabbed me instead?" roman asked in confusion. "That made no sense."

"It was a distraction," Seth said without looking at him. "I made sure you got back but I wasn't supposed to go with you."

"We weren't going to leave you," Punk said as he sat up in his seat. "I'm getting a crick in my neck. Where are we?"

"Somewhere in Wisconsin," Roman answered.

"You want to switch drivers?" Punk asked.

"No I'm good," Roman answered as he pulled off of the highway onto another road.

Dean turned his head and looked out the window. He frowned. They weren't in Wisconsin. Why did Roman say that? "Roman…" he stopped when he saw the look in Roman's eyes. He obviously didn't want Seth to know where they were.

Seth looked out the window as they passed a KFC. "Can we stop for some food? I'm hungry. We didn't have time to eat in catering," he reminded them.

"I guess. We'll go through drive thru." Roman said signaling and going into the drive thru at KFC. It was almost closing time so there was only one car already in the drive thru. Roman put the order through and drove up.

Dean was afraid the drive thru employee would see Seth's arms were tied but they didn't. it was a young woman who appeared to be enthralled with Roman. They pulled out of the drive thru and passed the food around.

If it wasn't for the fact Seth's hands were tied together, it would seem like a normal night after a wrestling show.

They drove for another hour before Roman pulled up to a rest stop his bladder begging for a release.

"Look I'm not going to run," Seth said as Roman handed Dean his crutches that had been in the trunk. "Where would I go? Please untie my hands. If you don't someone will call the cops and then you'll really have the Wyatts attention."

Roman reluctantly untied Seth's hands. The four men got out of the car. None of them said a word as they walked to the bathroom and then back to the car. Punk got in behind the wheel and the others got into the same seats they were in when they had left Joe Louis Arena.

Roman passed everyone a bottle of water that he had gotten from the machine and it was a quiet ride.

DDD

Dean opened his eyes again when he heard a soft voice singing, "time is on my side." He sat up in alarm. He looked around wondering where he was and realized he was in the back of car. He realized it had to be the radio playing.

He leaned his head back against the window and closed his eyes. Something was pressed against his face but he didn't even open his eyes. when someone clapped him on the knee.

"He's out again," a voice said but it sounded garbled and so far away. "You did good Roman."

Dean started to open his eyes again but they were feeling really heavy. He was out completely after the rag moved away from his face.

DDD

Notes: Flashback next chapter of what happened after they left the rest area.


	14. Enter Night

Notes: thank you for the reviews as always. To one reviewer: When the Lights Go Out was the original version of this fic. In the original version of Shattered and Scattered, Dean was blinded at the Slammy's. I couldn't get the fic to come together so I scrapped it. To the other reviewer: I'm trying to get all my fics updated but the muses are no help at all.

The _italics_ are flashbacks.

DDD

Seth groaned as he came to. He noticed that the car was no longer moving. He sat up and saw that Punk was asleep next to him in the back seat, but Roman and Dean were not in the front of the car.

He looked out the window and saw that they were in the middle of a field.

"Punk wake up," Seth said jostling the older man's shoulder.

Punk groaned as he opened his eyes. "What's going on?" he asked as he sat up.

"I don't have a clue. We're in the middle of a field and Dean and Roman are missing. Last thing I remember is you were driving."

"What did you do with them?" Punk yelled.

"What do you mean what did I do with them? I just told you the last thing I remember is that you were driving. Why are you in the back seat?"

"I was getting really tired when we left the rest stop so Roman volunteered to drive. You and Dean were already asleep."

"Roman gave us water bottles…" Seth said starting to put it together. "How did Bray get to Roman? He wasn't with Bray that long."

"I don't know," Punk said taking his phone out and called Roman's cellphone. r

Punk got out of the car and looked around. Seth was wrong. They weren't in a field. They were exactly where he and Roman had switched seats.

DDD

 _Dean took the bottled water gratefully from Roman. None of them had ordered a drink at KFC. He took a long drink from the bottle. He started out the window for awhile before he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He closed his eyes and fell asleep._

 _Seth didn't take a drink right away. He just stared out the window. He was glad his hands hadn't been retied. They had been very uncomfortable._

" _You thirsty Seth," Roman asked as he took a sip from his own bottle. Nothing better for a cross fit junkie than water."_

 _Seth scoffed at him even though he was used to Dean and Roman calling him a cross fit junkie. He took a sip of the water._

" _I used to be addicted to Pepsi," Punk said now it's fruit and vegetable drinks for me."_

" _I'll keep the water," Seth said. "Dean was telling me about the blender you were using when he was in," he stopped as a yawn overcame him. "Chicago. He was afraid you were," another yawn, "going to make him drink it."_

" _You sound tired man," Roman said turning around in his seat. "You should get some sleep. We've got a long drive ahead of us."_

" _Yeah," Seth said sleepily. "I think I will." He said before falling asleep._

 _Roman went back to texting. He tried to hide a smile as Punk unscrewed his bottle of water and took a drink._

" _Hey if you get tired let me know and I'll drive. I'm feeling wired."_

" _I just woke up. I'm good to go. You should get some sleep though."_

 _It wasn't that long before Punk was pulling the car over. "I'm sorry man. I guess I'm more tired than I thought I was."_

" _Don't worry about it," Roman said as he opened the back passenger seat and helped Punk get in the back as he was on the verge of passing out._

 _He waited until he was sure Punk was out before making a call the number he was texted from earlier._

" _They're all out," he said as soon as someone answered._

" _We're almost there," was the response._

 _Roman stood outside of the car in order to flag them down. When the truck pulled up, he opened the front passenger door and picked Dean up. he carried him and set him in the back of the truck before climbing in next to him._

 _Bray turned around from the front passenger seat with a large grin on his face._

 _They quickly drove away._


	15. Escaping Darkness

Dean opened his eyes slowly. His head felt really fuzzy. He saw that he was still in the car. Where were they driving to? California? It seemed like they were never going to get wherever they were going.

"I got him." a voice said.

Dean strained to figure out who it was. His head was still foggy and the voice sounded like it was under water.

"Yeah. You can have him when you give me what I asked for. You're right. I already have that. You know what I want." There was silence.

"What's going on," Dean asked as he sat up. "You trying to bargain with the Wyatts?" He stopped as his mind became even more clear. He wasn't in a car. He was in the back seat of a truck. He turned to look next to him and saw Roman and next to him was Luke Harper. He tried to open the door but found the child lock had been set. He couldn't open the door. He started pounding at the window.

"Here," Bray said from the front seat. He handed Roman a cloth and Dean stopped wondering what was going on. Why was Roman helping the Wyatts? What was going on? Was Seth driving?

Dean shoved Roman away as he tried to push the ether soaked rag into his face.

"Move," Harper said as he grabbed the rag and shoved Roman away. He shoved the cloth into Dean's face. Dean tried to fight him off but had no luck. He fell back against the seat not completely out as Roman shoved Harper away.

Roman glared at Harper before saying, "Don't touch him."

Bray started humming a tune before he said, "everything's fine Roman. No one's going to hurt Ambrose. We're just giving him a ride. He's never been my focus anyway."

"Yeah Seth was." Dean said as he still fought to get the door open. It was no use. The door wouldn't open and he had nothing to break the window open with. He only had one option for something strong enough. The rod in his ankle. His ankle was screwed up enough as it was. he pushed against Roman and raised his foot up and kicked the window as hard as he could. The window shattered as Dean screamed in pain. Harper was trying to shove the rag in Dean's face as a police siren started to go off. Dean struggled to get up but Roman had a grip around his waist trying to hold him down.

"Knock him out!" Bray was yelling. "Lose the cop Rowan!"

Dean lunged for the window and pulled the door open from the other side and tumbled out. The car sped away.

DDD

Notes: Sorry for such a short chapter. Hopefully the next chapter length will make up for it.


	16. Take My Hand

Notes: Things come full circle with this series in this chapter.

Detective Stephen Scott sat in his unmarked car waiting for a call from his partner Detective Pete Donaldson to call him with information on their latest case. He was glad he had moved to South Carolina from New Jersey. After that crazy kidnapping and assault case he worked on back in April, he was ready for something a little more normal.

He took a sip of his coffee and was about to call his partner to check in when an old went driving down the road. An old truck wasn't unusual in these parts so he didn't pay it much attention until he watched the passenger rear window shattered. He turned on his siren and started to chase the truck. He had to swerve to miss the body that tumbled out. The truck sped off. He pulled over quickly and raidiod in. "This is Detective Scott. I was in pursuit of a truck who's window shattered and a body was thrown out. Late model white turck I think it was a chevy. Rear window broken. I'm going to check on the person." He said before getting out.

He went over to the figure who had managed to roll his way out from the middle of the highway. He was struggling to stand up but couldn't.

"Sir are you okay," Detective Scott asked approaching him.

The man continued to try to stand. "Gotta go after them," he said as he got up to all fours but let out a few swear words as he tried to stand up. "Damn ankle."

"Sir my name is Detective Scott. Let me help you in the back of my car until I can get an ambulance here. Actually let me drive you to the nearest hospital. We're in the middle of nowhere. I'd get you there faster than an ambulance."

"I'm fine." He said as he finally gave up on standing.

"You were just thrown out of a truck."

"Jumped out of the truck." He corrected. "Had to get away from them."

"Either way you need to be checked out by a hospital. Let me help you up."

This time the younger man didn't protest but wasn't much help on getting to the car. Scott had to nearly drag him over. After he set him in the back and buckled him up, he started the car and drove to the nearest hospital. He saw the man had passed out.

He radiod in to the hospital. "I have a man late 20s maybe early 30s who just jumped out of a moving truck. Unsure of injuries but he looks like he has a formerly broken ankle. He's unconscious. ETA 20 minutes." He turned his radio off.

He looked into the mirror. He was sure he had seen that man somewhere before.

DDD

Seth and Punk decided to stay the night in a small motel in North Carolina. They were both shocked to find out they had been going nowhere near where they originally had planned to go. They had tried to call Roman's phone again but discovered that Roman had left his phone in the car. They tried to call the number that was on the phone but found it had been disconnected. They had no idea where Dean, Roman, or the Wyatts were.

"Don't you have a phone number for Bray?" Punk asked as he hung up with his wife AJ.

"No he always seemed to know how to find me." Seth said as he turned on the TV. It was nearly morning but considering how many times they were unconscious yesterday, neither were tired. "Can't call Ambrose because he was too paranoid to bring his phone."

"Can you blame him?" Punk asked. "Hunter broke into Joey's office to get his last phone number." He received a text and smirked. At least there was some humor to this situation. "Christopher Daniels says you better not show your face in Ring of Honor again or he's going to kill you."

Seth, who was about to go to the bathroom to take a shower, turned around and made a face. "I could take him."

"My money's on Daniels."

They didn't say anything as Seth left the room. Punk sat back on the bed nearest the door and sighed. What were they going to do?

DDD

Scott didn't know whether or not to laugh or cry when he found out who the mystery man was. Apparently he'd never escape that case. He headed into the hospital room to find Ambrose asleep. They had tried to watch all the drugs out of his system and he had managed to make a bigger mess of his ankle that required surgery. The doctor had told him if kept breaking his ankle they'd eventually have to amputate it.

He sat down in the chair and Ambrose opened his eyes and stared at him.

"Well Mr. Good we meet again. I'm Detective Scott we met when you were kidnapped in New Jersey. I've read your file and talked to your emergency contact, who said he'd be here later today, and I have to say this is quite an unbelievable story. Kidnapped in Hawaii and Philadelphia but you didn't want to press charges. Broke your ankle however many times and now jumping out of cars to escape a recent kidnapping. Do you look for ways to be kidnapped."

Dean glared at him. "Look this isn't my idea of fun. I have a lunatic boss who wants to make my life hell. I have a cult leader who thinks I'm a bargaining chip. My best friend is suddenly brainwashed and now I have to do deal with stupid questions from you!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Good it's been a long day. I moved to South Carolina to get away from the New Jersey case."

"I understand Detective. I've been trying to run from it for 8 months."

DDD

Notes: I'm having fun with this story.


	17. Something's Up

Dean's head felt fuzzy after he woke up from another ankle surgery. Even though the window had broken easily enough, his ankle was still a mess. He opened his and saw a while mask staring down at him. He opened his eyes to scream but a hand covered his mouth.

"Shh," the voice hissed. "It's Seth. We're trying to sneak you out." Towels and sheets were dropped on top of him.

"Like that's going to calm him down," another voice said quietly. Dean could almost see Punk rolling his eyes. As his head cleared, Dean realized that the white mask he had seen, was a surgical mask and not a sheep mask. He tried to relax even though he was sure this wouldn't work. It only worked on TV and in movies.

He must have passed out again, because the next thing he knew, he was being lifted out of the cart and placed into the back of a minivan.

Dean let out a hiss of pain as he tried to get comfortable. He saw two crutches were placed in the of the van. Dean was glad to know that someone actually remembered he needed to be mobile this time. Unlike when Seth decided to flee Orlando.

"Detective Scott said you'd be here," Dean said as he pulled himself into one of the seats. Seth got behind the wheel and started to drive away. Dean continued. "But he didn't tell me you'd be taking me out of the hospital after surgery."

"We didn't tell him," Seth answered. "Decided we'd better we'd spring you before the Wyatts came back. Did you really leap out of a moving truck?"

"Well I knew they weren't going to pull over to let me out," Dean said matter of factly, "I can't believe they brainwashed Roman. Though he's not completely there. He did stop Harper from touching me."

"He drugged the water bottles," Punk explained. "He probably waited for me to pass out before he contacted the Wyatts. The other rental was in the same location where he and I switched places."

"I still don't understand how they got to Roman," Seth said, "he was only with Bray for twenty minutes' tops."

"Who's to say it started there?" Punk asked. "You and Dean left WWE, and Roman, after you left Hawaii. Maybe Bray's been working on him since then. He worked on you for a while Seth," he reminded him.

Dean was starting to get sleepy. He closed his eyes. He was almost asleep when he heard a familiar tune playing. He sat up quickly and cursed when he banged his injured foot. He grabbed for the door handle and pulled it open. He started to get out when the breaks were slammed, and he felt a heavy body holding him down.

"Calm down," Punk yelled into his ear. Seth eased the car on to the side of the road. They had narrowly missed causing a car accident.

"What the hell is wrong with you man?" Seth asked turning to face the back. "You almost jumped out of the van. Do you have a death wish?"

"I heard Time is on My Side playing," Dean said as Punk got up. "I thought Bray was here."

Seth and Punk exchanged uneasy looks. "The radio isn't playing," Punk said. "You were dreaming."

"I wasn't asleep yet! Do you have Roman's phone?"

Punk grabbed it and held it up. "Battery's dead. No one was singing Dean. You had a nightmare."

Dean glared at the older man. He was tired of them not believing him. they hadn't believed him back in June and look what happened.

DDD

Hunter was not happy with how things were going. Cesaro, Rollins, and Ambrose had no showed the Smack down taping that night. Heyman claimed Cesaro was still unable to fly out. Hunter had looked at the weather reports and there was no bad weather in Tampa. Cesaro was refusing to come to work for some reason and Hunter didn't like it one bit.

Ambrose and Rollins no showing didn't surprise him of course. Bray had told him how Ambrose kicked out a truck window to escape. He, Rollins, and Punk were most likely laying low.

The Wyatts and their newest member Roman Reigns, had no trouble making the show. In fact, Hunter wished they hadn't. bray and his impossible demands were starting to make Hunter mad. Bray was not getting control of the company.

He picked up his phone and called Cesaro. He wasn't at all surprised that it went to voicemail. "Claudio," he said deciding to use formalities with the Swiss member of Evolution. "If you aren't at RAW Monday, you're fired." He hung up. Cesaro was a weak member of Evolution anyway. He was truly failing to evolve. Maybe Corey Graves would be a better member.

The door burst open and Heyman came rushing in. "You can't fire my client!" He yelled.

"Figures," Hunter said flashing him a glare. "He refused to answer my calls, but he'll call you."

"It's the weather in Florida.

Hunter handed him a piece of paper showing that Florida airports were operating as normal. Before Heyman could protest, Hunter handed him another piece of paper showing the weather for the past week.

"I'll talk to him," Heyman promised.

"You better or I'll fire both of you. Now get out of my office."

Heyman rushed out quickly.

Hunter pondered what would be causing Cesaro to stay away.

DDD

Notes: The plot thickens. What did Dean hear and why won't Cesaro come back. All that will be revealed eventually.


	18. Nowhere to Run

Notes: I do not own anyone in this chapter. I thought that should be mentioned again.

"You sleep okay," Wendy, AJ Styles' wife, asked as Dean hobbled into the kitchen. Wendy was at the stove making breakfast for her three sons. Her daughter Anney, who was only two months old, was still asleep upstairs.

Dean shrugged non committedly as he sat down the oldest son Ajay. He poured himself a glass of orange juice. He wanted coffee but didn't feel like getting up to pour himself a cup. He didn't get any sleep when they pulled up to the Styles' home in Gainesville Georgia at a little past midnight that morning. It was Punk's idea because he was sure no one would think of looking for him there.

Dean knew AJ was at one-point best friend's with Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian so he called them to find out more about AJ. Christopher said that AJ was a good guy and he'd be fine there. Dean still had his reservations, but he was tired of running.

"Do you want bacon Dean?" Wendy asked as she set down plates in front of Ajay and Avery.

"Sure," Dean answered as his stomach growled. He wasn't sure when the last time he ate was. He thought it might have been some hospital food.

Wendy came back in and set plates in front of him and Albey. "Phil and Seth must still be sleeping," she said before sitting down at the table.

"Yeah," Dean said as he took a bite of his pancake. He didn't say anything else but he didn't need to. The three boys talked nonstop until the school bus arrived to take them to school. Wendy started to clean the dishes.

"Hey," AJ said as he entered the dining room.

"Hey," Dean said without looking up from the newspaper he had started reading.

"I'm AJ by the way," AJ said as he went into the kitchen to help himself to pancakes. "You were kind of out of it last night and I don't think you may have remembered getting here."

Dean frowned. He was out of it? He remembered being ushered into the house and having a whispered conversation with AJ before he was led into a guest room. "I was?"

"Yeah," AJ said as he sat down across from him. "You were humming some tune or something."

Dean stared at him in confusion. What was AJ talking about? He hadn't been humming. He remembered not saying anything at all.

"AJ," Wendy said entering the room with a mug of coffee. "That wasn't Dean humming it. It was Seth. Dean's the one who talked to Chris on the phone for twenty minutes before he even entered the house."

Dean stared at them wide eyed for a moment before getting up from the table with the aid of the crutches. He wasn't losing his mind. He wanted out of there but he had nowhere to go.

DDD

Cesaro stood in a corner watching his longtime friend Sara Del Rey working with Sasha Banks and Bailey. He had driven to the Performance Center looking to talk to Sara about some things. He knew it probably wasn't the best place to go, but he had to talk to someone.

She finished with Sasha before coming up to him. "Hey Antonio," She said as she climbed out of the ring. She gave him a hug. "I thought you'd be on the road."

"I'm off until Monday." This was true as he knew he had to be at RAW. He knew Hunter wasn't kidding. "I'm here to take you out to lunch."

"Sounds good," Sara said, "I'll get changed." She said before going to the women's locker room to get changed.

"He's not here," a voice said from behind him. He turned around to see Joey Mercury standing there not looking happy to see the Swiss wrestler.

"Who?"

"Ambrose. He's not here and neither is Seth."

"I wasn't looking for them Mercury. I'm not even part of Evolution anymore." Or he wouldn't be come Monday. "I'm just here to see Sara."

Joey looked at him doubtfully.

Cesaro sighed knowing he deserved that. He deserved a lot for what he did, or rather didn't do, in the past four months. He just had to figure out how to fix this.

"I'm ready," Sara said a few minutes later coming out of the locker room.

"Let's get some lunch before Joey throws me out." Cesaro said and led her out of the Performance Center.

DDD

"You didn't do anything wrong," Sara said to Cesaro after they had placed their orders. "You didn't do it to him."

"But I didn't stop it either," Cesaro argued. "I broke his arm trying to get him to shut up." he said in a low voice. "I…held him down at one point." They were both being careful with the words they were using as there were people not that far away. "I'm partially responsible for the fact that his career is over."

"You going to the police?" Sara asked.

Cesaro shook his head.

"But…"

"I'm just done. Things were a lot simpler when we were Kings of Wrestling with Hero. How did everything get so messed up?"

Sara didn't have an answer for that. "I'm sure Dean thought CZW was a cakewalk compared to this year," she said instead. "They're all going to be okay. What else can Hunter do?"

Cesaro didn't want to know if there was an answer to that question.

DDD

Notes: I'm still not sure where I'm going at the moment but I thought it would be a nice break from the craziness of the Enter Sandman themed chapters.


	19. Late Night

"You gotta talk to him," Punk said as he came back into the room that he had been sharing with Seth.

"He won't talk to me," Seth said as he tied his shoes. "He shut us out after he hung up with Daniels last night. He's convinced he heard that song but the radio was off and so were our phones. We probably should believe him after Boston. I mean if we believed him then, maybe the nightmare would have ended sooner. I can't talk to him about it because I know what I did. Or didn't do." He sighed as he left the room. They went downstairs to find Dean sitting on the couch staring at a TV that wasn't on.

"Seth, Phil," Wendy called from the kitchen, "would you like pancakes? There's still some batter left."

"Sure," Punk said as he walked into the kitchen.

"You okay," Seth asked sitting down in the arm chair.

Dean moved to grab his crutches.

"Wait Dean," Seth said, "talk to me. You haven't said anything since we arrived here last night."

"What were you humming last night?" Dean asked as he sat back down on the couch.

"What?" Seth asked. "I told you that no one was singing…"

"No AJ said you were humming last night. What were you humming?"

"Oh! I was humming Cult of Personality. Punk and I were talking music right before we got here. You were asleep. I kind of got his song stuck in my head. We should look into better theme music."

"I don't care what music you and Roman choose," Dean said as he picked up the TV remote. "It's not like I'll be wrestling ever again." He turned on the TV and settled in for a CSI episode.

Seth didn't say anything as he watched the TV show. They had plenty of time to talk.

DDD

Dean sat in the kitchen at almost midnight. He had gone to sleep about an hour before and woke up from a nightmare he didn't remember. He was now sitting in the dark kitchen with a mug of coffee in front of him. He was tired of the nightmares he had been having.

The light turned on. "Oh!" Wendy said surprised to see Dean was in the kitchen. "Didn't know anyone was in here," she explained. "I was just getting my son Ajay a glass of water."

"Couldn't sleep," Dean said.

"Cup of coffee probably won't help with that," Wendy answered as she filled a glass of water.

"It's decaf," Dean lied. He didn't know why he lied. He just didn't want to talk about it he supposed.

"I'm going to go take this to Ajay and then I'll be right back." She said and left the room.

Dean debated getting up and leaving but decided not to. There wasn't much of a point anyway.

A few minutes later Wendy came back in the ring. "Dean are you okay?" she asked.

"How much did Punk tell AJ about why we were coming?" Dean asked instead.

"He just said that you all needed somewhere to stay for a few days. He didn't tell us why. AJ's known him for a few years and trusted him enough to let you guys stay here. I know I just met you twenty-four hours ago, but I can tell something's wrong. Do you want to talk about it?"

Dean started to open his mouth but stopped. He didn't want to talk to a complete stranger about his life. It's why he refused to see a psychiatrist, though a lot of people tried to talk him into seeing one. Roman and Seth tried to understand his life but they just couldn't. Dean's childhood was horrible. This year was the worst year he had in wrestling. His friendships with Seth and Roman almost ended at the beginning of the year because of his insecurities. His friendships with them at the moment were strained if not broken. He couldn't trust them but that was partially because of the Wyatts. They had both betrayed him.

If he didn't have a broken ankle, he'd probably steal the rental car and drive away. The last time he had tried to drive with a broken ankle, he had hit Bray with the car. He didn't want to chance it again. Besides, he didn't know where they were. He had slept a lot of the drive thanks to the painkillers.

"No," Dean said finally. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I can't talk about it."

Wendy patted his hand before getting up. She could hear Anney crying through the baby monitor. "Try to get some sleep." She said before leaving the kitchen.

Dean poured himself another mug of coffee instead.


	20. Sick

Notes: Fun ends now.

"I'm fine," Dean said a few days later. "You guys worry…" he cut himself off as he started coughing hard. "It's just a cold. I can go to RAW." He started coughing again.

"Dean," Seth said as he looked at the thermometer. "You've got a fever of 102. You can't come to RAW. Wendy said it's okay for you to stay here."

"Yeah but she's got an infant." He said as he sat up and tried to grab his crutches. "I'm better off staying at a motel while you're on TV."

"She's got a mask." Punk answered. "You're staying here." He said as he took the crutches away from him.

Dean lay back in bed too sick to argue any further. AJ had left for Japan the day before and Dean had woken up with a fever that morning. They had planned to drive up to Atlanta to catch a flight to RAW but the plan, like all of their plans lately, had hit a road block.

"No one knows you're here," Seth said as he came back in the room with a glass of orange juice. "You can call us on Wendy's phone if you need anything. We'll be back tomorrow."

"Fine," Dean said finally knowing there were no alternatives. Bray and Hunter had no idea they were there. he guessed it was safer than on the road.

"We've gotta go," Punk said. "We'll call you later." He left the room. Seth followed him.

Wendy stood in the living room. "Is he okay?" she asked.

"He's got a fever. He said he'll stay here. It's okay isn't it?"

"I've got a mask from when Avey was sick two weeks ago. Everything will be fine. I'll go to the pharmacy to get a medicine that won't interact with the pain meds. Don't worry guys." She said.

"We really have to go." Punk said. "I'm sorry to have to leave Dean here like this but there isn't anything we can do."

"Phil it's fine. I think maybe Dean needs to be away from RAW. He hasn't been sleeping so I guess it's no shock that he's come down with something." She walked them to the rental car.

"Call us if you need anything," Punk said as he got behind the wheel.

"I will." She said. She watched them drive away before going into the house.

DDD

Later that day Dean groaned as he woke up. His throat felt like it was on fire. He hated to be sick. He looked at the clock and saw it was a little after three.

"Dean," a muffled voice asked from the other side of the door. "I'm going to go pick up the boys from school and run a few errands. I'll get you some cold medicine, and I'll be back in about an hour. Do you need anything?"

"No," Dean croaked. There went his voice. Great.

"Okay." She said and walked away.

Dean couldn't believe how fast his health had gone downhill. He woke up that morning with somewhat a voice now he croaked. He probably caught something in the Wyatts truck or in the hospital. He probably should be vaccinated for something. He listened to the car go down the driveway. He rolled over and closed his eyes and fell asleep.

DDD

"Dean," a voice sing songed.

Dean grumbled and turned away from the voice. He didn't know why there was someone in the room. "Go 'way." He said.

"Dean," the voice said more insistently.

"Go 'way Roman. I'm sleeping." He pulled the cover over his head wishing Roman would go away.

"Time to play the game," Roman said.

"No."

"Don't think he wants to play," another voice said in a slow southern drawl.

Something in Dean's mind finally connected and he sat up in bed. He was alone in the room. He grabbed his crutches. He had to get out of there fast.

DDD

Ajay opened the door as Avey followed him carrying a small bag from the pharmacy. He was followed by Alby and Wendy carrying Anney.

Wendy carried upstairs. "Why don't you guys play in the backyard," she called to the boys. "I'm going to put Anney down and check on Dean."

The boys ran out of the house.

Wendy had just put Anney down when she heard Ajay come running up the stairs.

"Ajay shh! You're going to wake up your sister."

"But mom Dean's outside!" Ajay said.

"What?" she asked as she hurried to a window that faced the backyard. She saw her two younger sons standing in the middle of the yard. They were looking down at Dean Ambrose who was lying face down in the grass.

Wendy nearly sprinted down the stairs cellphone in hand. She ran up to Dean and called 911.


	21. Never Safe

"Dean," Wendy said deciding to hold off on calling 911 until she checked Dean first.

He rolled over on the ground and stared up at her. "What happened?" he asked.

"I was hoping you'd tell me," she said as she helped him sit up. She noticed right away that he was really warm. "The boys found you out here." She had put the mask on as quickly as she could. She wasn't sure how she had thought of doing that in her rush.

"I heard Roman and Bray and tried to get away." Dean said feeling around for his crutches and grabbing them. "I must have tripped and fell. I don't know."

"Well I'm going to call a baby sitter and drive you to a doctor," she said as she helped him back up to his feet. Or rather foot. She helped him over to the porch swing and had him sit down. She hurried inside and called her neighbor who said she'd be right over. She then called her doctor and he had an opening. She thought about calling Seth and Punk but decided to wait. Now was not a good time to share this.

DDD

"Mr. Good," the doctor said examining Dean's ears. "Do you wear a hearing aid?" He asked as he grabbed a pair of tweezers.

"No," Dean said, "why?" He felt something go in his ear and a moment later the doctor was holding up a small object. Dean took it. It was a transmitter of some type. He glared down at it but let the doctor continue examining him. At least he had proof that he wasn't crazy.

The doctor continued examining him. "Looks like you have bronchitis. I'll prescribe you some antibiotics and you need to stay in bed for a couple of days." He looked at his notes. "What painkiller are you on?" Dean handed him his prescription bottle and the doctor read the label before writing a script and handing it to him.

Dean looked at the transmitter before grabbing his crutches. How long had he had that in his ear? Had to be while in the truck but what if it was in Philadelphia? The latter worried him the most.

DDD

Seth was mad as he went back to the locker room. Dusty had signed him a match with Cesaro as Cesaro was the only one of Evolution at RAW. He had managed to get the pin fall but that didn't matter. Cesaro seemed distracted and he kept expecting to hear Hunter's music or Orton and Batista to show up during the match, but no one came out.

"I don't like this," Seth said to Punk as he started to change. "Why wouldn't Hunter at least be here?"

"That seems to be the question of the day," a voice said from the doorway. They turned to see Paul Heyman and Cesaro standing in the door way. Seth and Punk stood up. Heyman held up a hand. "We're not here to start anything. Cesaro has something to say." He backed up to allow the Swiss Superman into the locker room.

"I'm done with Evolution," Cesaro said. "I came to RAW to tell Hunter that but he's not here, and neither is Stephanie. He told me I had to be here or he'd fire me, and he's not even here."

"Good for you," Punk said, "now get out of here."

"Look I'm sure Ambrose isn't here," Cesaro said as Heyman took his cue and left. "Tell him I'm sorry for everything." He said before he left.

Punk and Seth exchanged looks unsure of what was going on tonight. After Seth changed, they headed to Dusty's office. They found the GM on the phone.

"Look people are wondering what's going on," Dusty said. "I had Orton and Batista booked in a tag match. I'm really supposed to believe you don't know where he is?" Silence. "Fine," he said and hung up. "Stephanie says she hasn't heard from her husband today and no one's seen Orton, Batista, or the Wyatts tonight. Where's Roman?"

"He joined the Wyatts," Seth said with a sigh.

"Dean safe?" Dusty asked. It was the one question both Punk and Seth wondered when they realized the Wyatts and Evolution, sans Cesaro, weren't at RAW.

Seth nodded. "He's safe. I can't say where he is but he's safe. We'll be going…"

He stopped as the lights went out.

Seth felt someone grab his arm. He reached back and kicked whoever it was in the leg and whoever it was, let go. He never liked when the lights went out under any circumstance. When the lights came back on a piece of paper was in Seth's hands. Seth looked down at it and recognized Roman's handwriting. It read:

 _Dean's not safe_

"No kidding," Seth muttered before handing it to Punk. "We better get back," he said glaring down at the piece of paper. When would the mind games end? He wondered. When he would everything just go back to normal.

DDD

Notes: Dean's not going crazy and is Roman still under control? Where was Hunter, Orton, and Batista? The mystery continues.


	22. Off to Never Never Land

Notes: Bit of bad news to start this fic (well it's kind of good news too!) this is the second to last chapter of the fic. The good news is there will be one more fic. Based on what happens in the next fic, I think I can finally say it's the last fic in the series. I am splitting this into two chapters because the ending needs its own chapter.

Wendy was in her bathroom getting ready for bed. She had stayed up late Skyping with AJ and waiting to see if Punk and Seth would be back that night. She wanted to make sure they knew what was going on. The only bright side of all of this was, Dean seemed to be sleeping well. Removing the transmitter seemed to remove the problem.

She heard the front door open and close downstairs. She went to the top of the landing and saw Punk and Seth pulling their bags into the house. She went back into her room and grabbed the transmitter before heading downstairs.

"How's Dean," Seth asked as soon as she was downstairs.

"He's sleeping. He's got bronchitis." She held up the small object for them to see. "The doctor found this in his ear."

Seth took the object. It had been smashed to make sure it couldn't transmit but he could easily see what it was. "Shit." He said before handing it to Punk. "He really was hearing Bray."

"Yes," Wendy said glaring at Seth. "He heard Bray and Roman's voices and tried to run. My kids found him in the backyard after he tripped. Thankfully he didn't injure his ankle and he seems to be all right even if he has bronchitis."

Punk put the device in his jeans pocket. "As soon as Dean's awake we'll leave."

"No," Wendy said, "Dean's too sick to go anywhere. I had someone check out the object and they said it isn't a tracker just a transmitter. Evidently Bray can call it with a phone. It can't transmit anymore." She rubbed her eyes. She had an early morning and it was almost midnight. "I'm going to bed. Good night guys."

"Night," Seth and Punk said watching her go. "We've got to get out of here," Seth said.

"I agree. You warm up the car. I'll get Dean and meet you." Punk said.

Punk went into the downstairs room to find Dean sleeping soundly. Dean hadn't been sleeping the last few days and he hated to wake him but knew he had to. Even if it wasn't a tracker, who's to say they didn't know where to find him? he grabbed Dean's bag, and grabbed the two prescription bottles that were on the nightstand.

He grabbed the blankets and wrapped Dean in them. Dean mumbled but didn't wake up.

Seth came back in the room. "Car's running but I thought you'd need help with Dean." He grabbed the bag and Dean's crutches.

They were at the door when they were spotted. "Where are you going?" Ajay asked from the top of the stairs.

"We have to run an errand. We'll be back in the morning." Seth said.

Ajay looked doubtfully at him.

"Don't tell you mother. We'll be back." Punk said as Seth opened the door for him. he carried Dean to the car and put him in the backseat.

"Where are we going?" Seth asked as he got behind the wheel.

"Nowhere." A familiar voice said from behind them. "Well nowhere you want to go. Start driving."

Seth and Punk turned around to see Triple H in the backseat. They had no choice but to drive.


	23. Their Final Stand

Notes: Theme song for this chapter is AFI's Prelude 12/21. It's a good song to listen to while reading this chapter. I listened to while writing this chapter.

Seth drove on for what felt like forever. He wished he could punch Hunter, but Dean was in the back of the car next to Hunter. Dean thankfully was still asleep.

CM Punk was turned around facing Hunter to keep an eye on the older man.

"How much further?" Seth asked. He didn't like this one bit. He knew that Orton, Batista, and possibly Cesaro would be waiting for them.

"Take a left at the next street," Hunter replied.

Seth did so.

"It's the farm house at the end of the road." Hunter said as he took his cellphone out and started texting someone.

Seth drove the car into the driveway and cut the engine.

"Everyone out," Hunter instructed. He pulled Dean to a sitting position. As he started to open the door, someone else yanked it open. He turned to see Roman, who promptly gave him a hard shove before pulling Dean out.

"Nothing Dean," Roman said frowning as he felt the heat. "Go back to sleep."

Dean looked at him with wide eyes.

"It's me Dean, trust me. Just go back to sleep."

Dean was too sick to protest.

"Bray," Hunter called as they walked into a barn. "Your sheep is no longer under control." He said glaring at Roman.

"You told me to let him go," Bray reminded him. "Did you mean after this meeting?" Hunter turned his glare on him. "My mistake."

Roman put Dean down in some hay and covered him with a blanket.

Orton, Batista, Heyman, Cesaro, Harper, and Rowan came into the barn almost as if on cue.

Hunter pulled the barn door closed. Seth and Punk went to stand in front of Dean.

"I think it's time to end all of this," Hunter said.

Seth and Punk exchanged looks not liking this at all. Even if Roman and possibly Cesaro were on their side, they were greatly outnumbered.

"This is what I propose," Hunter continued. "Evolution will leave the Shield alone," he said turning to face the Shield. "If you disband."

"What kind of reassurance do we have," Seth asked. He didn't want to break up the Shield but Dean was the one who was always Evolution's focus.

"I'm stepping down as COO of the WWE," Hunter said. "My brother-in-law Shane will be taking over. Dusty will still be General Manager. Batista is leaving to make moves, but Orton and Cesaro are staying in the WWE. If you do reunite, we'll all be back."

He turned to face the Wyatts. You will also leave the Shield alone. I know I can't force you to disband your group but you will not force any of the Shield to join your family. No more brainwashing. If you do, you will have to answer to me. I can talk to Shane and make sure you lose your title. He doesn't know about any of this, but he does know enough about what your little group has been doing."

"Wait," Seth said, "why do they get to remain a group but we can't?"

"Evolution is disbanding," Hunter said in way of reply. I think losing both you and Roman in their group is enough. Besides," he said looking over at Dean, "that's what he'd way if he wasn't too sick to pay attention. He's wanted out of the WWE for how long? Now he will get it. Oh, there's one more thing we have for Dean." He looked at Bray who walked over to Dean. Seth and Punk moved to protect Dean, but Roman stopped them.

"I'll make sure Dean doesn't remember anything of 2014." Bray said.

"He'd want that, wouldn't he?" Hunter said looking at the three men standing around Dean.

Seth and Punk exchanged looks. They hated to admit that Hunter was right. Dean did deserve to forget what happened to him this year.

"He's telling the truth," Roman said turning to face him. "I made him agree to do this."

"Course when he forgets 2014," Hunter said with a slight smirk, "he'll probably forget you guys stopped fighting. Didn't Seth and Punk wrestle on the last RAW of the year?"

Seth glared at Hunter. It was true. They had argued over who was the weak link of the team. They didn't really stop arguing over that until they separated to separate from the Authority.

"Fine." Seth finally said.

Bray sat down next to Dean and started talking quietly to him.

"You might want to move away unless you want to forget 2014," Harper said.

Roman, Punk, and Seth moved away.

After a few minutes Bray sat up. "It's done."

Cesaro got a nod from Hunter so he stepped forward. "We'll take Dean to a motel and explain that he got hit in the head and that's why he forgot 2014. It'll explain the broken ankle."

"No way!" Seth said moving towards the Swiss.

"You agreed to this." Hunter reminded him. "Say your goodbyes. The Shield and Evolution is no more."

DDD

Notes: Sorry for ending it there. The last fic called Fresh Start will be up soon.


End file.
